Culture and history of Spain b

The Banu Hud (??? ???) were an Arab dynasty that ruled the taifa of Zaragoza from 1039-1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami, the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza from a rival clan, the Banu Tujibi. His heirs, particularly Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046-1081), Yusuf al-Mutamin (1081-1085), and Al-Mustain II, Ahmad ibn Yusuf (1085-1110), were patrons of culture and the arts: the Aljafería, the royal residence erected by Ahmad I, is practically the only palace from that period to have survived almost in its entirety.

Despite their independence, the Banu Hud were forced to recognize the superiority of the Kingdom of Castile and pay parias to it as early as 1055. In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids, who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110. The conquest represented the end of the dynasty. The last of the Banu Hud, Imad al-Dawl abd al-malik al Hud, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso el Batallador, who in 1118 reconquered the city for the Christians and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. Wikipedia

Battle of Bilbao

The Battle of Bilbao was part of the War in the North, during the Spanish Civil War where the Nationalist Army captured the city of Bilbao and the remaining parts of the Basque Country still held by the Republic.

Bilbao was the capital of the autonomous Basque area established by the Republic after the war began. This establishment was in payment for Basque Nationalist support of the Republic.

The Basque people in Spain generally inhabit four provinces, Navarre, Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. The Basque Nationalists were dominant in the latter two provinces.

Navarre and Alava had rallied to the rising against the Republic.[1]

The Spanish Nationalists troops gained Guipuzcoa early in the war with the fall of San Sebastián, September 13, 1936.[2]

By June 11 The Basque forces had fallen back to the city of Bilbao, which was defended by a series of rushed fortifications called the “Iron Belt.” The Iron Belt was poorly designed for defense[3] and the designer of the Belt, engineer Alejandro Goicoechea, defected to the Nationalists and brought them the plans of the defenses, so that they could strike at the weakest point [4]. The ring was breeched by an infantry assault supported by heavy artillery bombardment. On the night of June 13 the defenders evacuated most of the civilian population from the city. On June 18 General Ulibarri withdrew his remaining troops from Bilbao and the Nationalists occupied the city on the following day. The city’s bridges had been destroyed to hinder the attackers but the city remained mostly intact. Wikipedia

(BNG- Galician Nationalist Block) Galician nationalist party currently led by xxxxxxx.

Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE)

The official gazette of the Government of Spain in which are published the laws passed by the Cortes Generales (the nation’s legislature, comprising the Senate and the Congress of Deputies) and the dispositions of the Autonomous Communities.

The group of the top Francoists who attempted to oppose reform before the Transition. The name was popularised by the then-Communist leader, Santiago Carrillo, in evident reference to the bunker of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun.

Bush-Aznar memo

butanero

El butanero, the gas bottle man, is an essential figure in saucy Spanish folklore, routhly equivilent to the British milkman. Though in frank decline, as the bright orange butane gas bottles are being replaced by piped natural gas, the cry of Butano!from people “asking” for gas is still a common sound. In Barcelona, at least, all butaneros are now Pakistanis.

Briefly

Words and concepts in Spanish that don't exist in English Here are a few words and expressions in Castilian Spanish that don’t exist in English, and perhaps could be borrowed. Foreigners speakers of Spanish in Spain certainly use so of them with alarming frequency with other English speakers in Spain, as do our Spanish friends and spouses. The list does not include food terms (covered elsewhere on iberianature) and most cultural terms (architectural, historical, bullfighting terms, etc)
In some cases, a simple word doesn’t exist in English (tuerto – one-eyed man) while in others the whole concept doesn’t exist (consuegros – a child’s spouse’s parents)
More to come

compaginar: slot together” or “integrate timetables

consuegros – child’s spouse’s parents

El de la verguenza – that last tasty morsel (e.g. a biscuit) which everybody feels embarrassed about taking. I suggest from now on calling this the shameful one in English, as members of my family now do.

enchufe – beyond the simple dictionary definition of plug, enchufe means a connection, knowing somebody, being well connected, knowing the right people, that sort of thing when you want something done. So, if you have an enchufe, it might very well make it easier to get a job.

estrenar – to try out something for the first time, often in the sense of wear estrenar zapatos. A football team might also estrenar un nuevo estadio An estreno is the first night of a film.

gestor – a kind of financial administrator, not quite an accountant, not quite a solicitor.

One word that you will hear a lot in Spain is gestor. The position is difficult to describe, simply because this agency does not exist in many countries. His main role is the interface between the public – in this case you – and the public administration. Generally, in UK you do not need any kind of interface, and when you do, it is clear that you should see a solicitor. In some other countries there will also be some person, or official in this kind of position. From here (continue reading)

homologar – compare and equate standards of

lampiño – without a beard or with little hair. Note, also inberbe, a beardless youth.

lustro – five years

manco – one-armed man

mimoso – as an adjective somebody who loves to be pampered/made a fuss of. Also a noun.

monte – in the sense of wild land (as opposed to just hill) monte does not exist in British English but equates to the Southern African English bush and the Australian outback. Echarse al monte means to take to the hills, and by extension, los del monte, the maquis fighters.

resol – Reflected sunshine off the wall, floor, etc. that some Spaniards try to avoid in summer… as in, “We can’t sit at that table” (at a terrazza) “it’s got a parasol, but there’s a lot of resol” (Michael)

sobremesa – the time spent after lunch sitting round the table and talking

Women do most of care work in Spain In spite of significant advances of recent decades, women are still the main caregivers for the elderly in 80 percent of the cases, according to a study by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M). More here

Mojácar used to be a town of around 6,000 people in as far back as 1870. It maintained this number of inhabitants until round about 1900 when, slowly, numbers began to fall, speeding its descent in the 1930s. Through the various local vicissitudes of the drop in the local water-table, the end of the de-forestation, a peculiar plague of locusts in 1901, the end of the mines in the 1920s and the troubled times of the Civil War, the area in general eventually became depopulated with mass emigrations to Barcelona, Algeria, Germany and even Argentina, and Mojácar itself began its long descent into what was, by 1960, a moribund village of just 600 souls. Read complete post on Spanish Shilling

Paddy Woodworth on the Basque Country
Paddy Woodworth is an Irish reporter who has lived and worked in the Basque Country. His book The Basque Country: a cultural history, was described by the Irish Times as a terrific modern introduction to the Basque Country… succeeds in showing us the complexities of the Basque struggle for identity”
Here’s an the introduction from his book from his website.
“The Basque Country has had more than its fair share of stereotypes thrust upon it. The Basques have sometimes resisted this typecasting, but they have not been shy about making their own contributions, some as extravagant as any foreigner’s, to stock images of their homeland.
More...

Spain has decided to reopen the Altamira cave complex in Cantabria after eight years being closed to visitors, despite scientists warnings’ that heat from human visitors damages the art. Visits are to resume next year on a restricted basis. The main chamber at Altamira features 21 bisons painted in ochre, red and black, which seem […]

George Orwell fought during the Spanish Civil War in the Sierra de Alcubierre in the Monegros on the Aragonese Front, during the freezing winter of 1937 (above photo by batiskafo on Flickr). He famously described his experiences in Homage to Catalonia. Unlike the diaries he wrote in the very late 1930s and 40s, which have […]

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Mobile World Congress will as usual not feature Apple – and nor will users be represented – but it remains the industry’s biggest show in town The world’s largest mobile technology event kicks off on Sunday with more than 86,000 salespeople, software engineers, chip designers, device makers and television crews arriving in Barcelona for the five-day event.Wi […]